In pursuit of a green economy, progressively more intensive recycling efforts are being undertaken. In separating construction debris to obtain cardboard from a debris mixture including wood and cardboard, for example, hand-sorting operations are required that can consume four hours per truckload of mixed-density material. The sorting is required because the machinery used to recycle cardboard is susceptible to damage from wood. Similar sorting problems arise with other types of mixed-density materials.
The present inventor, who has significant experience in material sorting, began work on developing a solution for speeding up the sorting process in February of 2009. What follows is the result of his efforts.
Accordingly, it is desirable to speed up the separation of mixed density materials. In addition, it is desirable to speed up any separation operation that involves separating a denser material from a less dense material. In addition, it is desirable to provide an apparatus for those purposes. In addition, it is desirable to have the apparatus be of economical design and easy to operate. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.
The present invention has been tested and shown to reduce sorting time to about twenty minutes per truckload of mixed-density material. This reduction by a factor of more than ten is worth tens of millions of dollars annually to large processors of mixed-density material. The cost of applicant's invention is trivial compared to the cost of conveyor sorters. The floor space taken up by applicant's invention is trivial compared to the floor space taken up by conveyor sorters.